Computer system upgrades delay licensing for nursing graduates

Problems with a new computer system are leaving thousands of recent nursing graduates in the lurch. California's new BreEZe online licensing and enforcement system, managed by the Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento, was intended to improve efficiency for 37 licensing boards and bureaus. But since the state's Board of Registered Nursing and nine other agencies started using the software Oct. 8, applications for graduating nurses have spent weeks in limbo. Approximately 4,000 were pending as of Tuesday, according to Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs. "Our BreEZe computer system is not doing everything it was designed to do yet," he said.